Wimbledon champion Roger Federer and Tim Henman could be dragged into a High Court battle between adidas and the All England Club.

The tennis clothing manufacturer are suing the All England Club in May, seek-ing damages and an injunction against rules limiting the size of advertising logos on players' clothing.

It is part of a worldwide action launched by adidas against the International Tennis Federation and the Grand Slam tournaments, which includes Wimbledon.

The action against the All England Club also includes every member of the club so adidas are, in effect, also suing Federer and Henman who, as well as being sponsored to wear adidas clothing, are also All England members.

All England Club chief executive Ian Ritchie said: "I think it's a shame they are suing a group of people who put all the profits of the event back into tennis."

The action has come about as a result of the four Grand Slam organisers limiting the size of logos.

They claim the famous adidas three stripes - registered as a manufacturers' identifi-cation - are subject to the rule change and negotiations, which have been held since the decision was taken 11 months ago, have failed to break the deadlock.

Ritchie said: "We do not want a situation where we see players covered in manufacturers' identifications.

"The rules must be the same for all manufacturers. Allowing the registered three stripes manufacturers' identification to continue to be advertised all over player clothing would inevitably result in equally large 'swooshes' and 'crocodiles' and other identities. That, in our view, would be inappropriate in a Grand Slam and Wimbledon environment."

Wimbledon are also stridently resisting equal pay for men and women competitors.

With next month's French Open giving women parity for the first time this year, Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam tournament still operating a differential.

This year, the men's champion will receive #655,000, with the women's title holder collecting a cheque for #625,000 - both #25,000 up on last year.

The increases are part of a four per cent rise in singles prize money this year.

Prize money for the men's and women's doubles has gone up by one per cent resulting in a total for the tournament of #10,378,710, an overall increase of 2.9 per cent on last year.

Confirmation that the men would continue to receive higher prize money than women met with an angry response from the WTA, Tour who run the women's game.

Chief executive Larry Scott said: "The Sex Discrimination Act has been in force in Britain for over 30 years, yet Wimbledon continue to take a Victorian-era view when it comes to pay."